Caviness turns normally sleepy municipal judge election into real race against Rosson | Ashe

In his bid for a 10th term, Municipal Judge John Rosson, 76, is employing unusual tactics to defeat Tyler Caviness, 32. His recent news conference in the municipal courtroom of the new city Safety Building heads the list.

Judicial codes of ethics and city ordinances clearly prohibit political activities in the courtroom. Rosson has been a judge for 36 years. Surely he once read the code of ethics, but had he forgotten them? His violation of the ethics code became the news story.

Rosson’s fundraising since the Aug. 29 primary has been anemic compared with Caviness’s. Rosson raised a little more than $6,400 plus a $6,000 loan from himself, while Caviness raised $22,100. Rosson edged out Caviness by 1.4% in the primary. This is a real election.

Caviness is an energetic door-to-door campaigner. This contest has educated many to the existence of a municipal court. The city will not go another 24 years with uncontested races for city judge.

The other actively contested race is for City Council between incumbent Amelia Parker and Tim Hill. Parker earned 41% of the primary vote to Hill's 37%, and the remaining 22% went to Matthew Best. It's a fair assumption to say most Best voters will line up behind Parker . Hill will have to step up his game to prevail over Parker.

Early voting for the Nov. 7 election started last week, but most people knowledgeable about local elections expect fewer than 12,000 city voters will participate, which is 4,000 fewer than in the city primary.

Daniel Herrera, 31, running for county law director against incumbent David Buuck, 76, is an embarrassment to some Knox Republicans and will trigger Democrats to seek a qualified candidate such as former Chancellor Daryl Fansler, Marshall Stair, Marshall Jensen, Jamie Ballinger or Sarah Keith.

Herrera’s qualifications are widely criticized. His spending as Knox GOP chair was extravagant, including when he paid Charles Kirk $20,000 for a speech and bought tickets to Nashville GOP dinners.

Many think Herrera’s credentials to be law director are weak. He has practiced law only a few years. He could run up the meter in the county law office on just hiring expensive outside legal counsel.

Herrera’s prior political efforts also are weak. He lost three local elections in New Jersey and North Carolina by overwhelming margins before he moved to Knox County, where he had that single controversial term as GOP chair. He has a credible rival in Buuck.

While Buuck gets mixed reviews, especially with school-related and disability lawsuits, he is viewed as more solid than Herrera. The Knoxville Bar poll on Buuck and Herrera likely will be very negative to Herrera.

Herrera has Chrissey Stephens, 52, as his treasurer, an interesting choice as she is also treasurer for two other elected officials and one candidate. Herrera is her fourth client. She was paid more than $1,000 by Gina Oster to be treasurer for Oster's successful County Commission run.

Longtime City Council member Larry Cox died Oct. 18 after a lengthy illness. He was a very hard-working advocate for recreation and North Knoxville.

State Rep. Gloria Johnson will be the main speaker at the Knox County Truman Day Dinner at 6 p.m. Oct. 27 at the downtown Hilton. Tickets are $80. She has raised more than $1.3 million – from all 95 Tennessee counties as well as all 50 states – as of Oct. 3.

The Knoxville Museum of Art honors retiring executive director David Butler 5:30-7:30 p.m. Nov. 3 with a preview party for “Higher Ground,” which celebrates a century of visual arts in East Tennessee. Butler is the longest-serving director of the KMA and highly respected for his endeavors.

Birthdays

Oct. 28: Former U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp is 66. Barbara Boulton is 71. Billionaire Bill Gates is 68. Brian DeBusk is 56. Trista Calhoun is 37.

Oct. 29: Susan Richardson Williams, former TVA board member, is 78. James E. Shamiyah is 51. Michael Ewell is 61. David Northington is 76. Sam Furrow is 82. Neal Allen is 81.

Oct. 30: Barton Watkins is 54. Robert Buswell and Leslie Henderson are 77. Steve Hunley is 72. Reico Hopewell is 51. Natalie Stair is 40. Former state Rep. David Coffey is 91. Allan Rosenbaum is 56. Karen Gilbertson is 75. Former state Rep. Harry Tindell is 63.

Oct. 31: Michael Bensey of the Greenway Commission is 69. Knox Democratic Party chair Matt Shears is 30. Ethan Grantham is 34. Michael Carillon is 32.

Nov. 1: Former Tennessee first lady Crissy Haslam is 65. Andrew Kendrick is 40. Jeffrey Devlin is 53. Former city council member Don Ferguson is 91. Amy Midis is 55. Justin Cazana is 51. Shana K. Love is 43.

Nov. 2: John Thomas is 84. Archie Carpenter is 81. Britton T. Sharp is 47. Scott Meyer is 56. Gary W. Schmieder is 72.

Victor Ashe can be reached at vhashe@aol.com.

Victor Ashe is a former Knoxville mayor and former ambassador to Poland. He is a columnist for Shopper News. 

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Caviness gains steam in bid to unseat Rosson for Knoxville city judge